“Look, we are short photographers. Is there anyway you can take some shots?” my editor asked me. Without thinking, I replied, “Sure.” Even though I am a writer, I have taken photos for some of my stories and have a decent camera that makes photography pretty easy -- even for a writer.

I was writing a story on a movie being made at our local high school staring teen heart-throb Taylor Lautner, an 18-year-old actor who is hugely popular right now thanks to the Twilight vampire movies. Lautner is one of the stars of the famous movie series and there probably isn’t a teen girl alive who doesn’t know who the young man is. This middle-age woman, however, isn’t a fan of the movies and only had a passing knowledge of what the actor looked like.

As I headed towards the school, I started to rethink the assignment. Surely, I would be the only “old” woman there.I felt oddly uncomfortable as I approached the crowd with my telephoto lens. Would I look like a pervert? The kid is the same age as my son and my own 20-year-old daughter has lusted after him!

Or worse: Would I look like paparazzi???

I needn’t have worried. As I pulled up to the school, there was a crowd of about 75, which, oddly enough, seemed to be evenly divided between middle-aged moms and teens. The women, at least this is what they told me, were there with their daughters.

Fortunately, I spotted some friends (yes, the middle-aged mom types) and they knew that I was a “real” journalist .

I started snapping away and realized that it was kind of fun. I got some amazing shots of the young man -- throwing kisses to the crowd, chatting with his bodyguard and riding his motorcycle across the parking lot. The more I took, the more I wanted to take!

When I was done, I went home and emailed several to my editor. A few days later, I was disappointed that they only used my crowd photos. Where were my shots of Lautner???

All is not lost, however. I’ve sent the photos off to friends whose daughters are Lautner fans and it was a fun assignment.How much do you think the National Inquirer would pay for some good Taylor Lautner photos?